Manchester man sentenced in machete attack

Staff ReportNovember 27. 2013 3:20PMMANCHESTER — Hillsborough County Superior Court Judge David Garfunkel Tuesday sentenced Jose Sanchez Grullon to 9 to 22 1/2 years in state prison for luring a city teen in to the woods behind Rock Rimmon Park and attacking him with a machete last year.

A jury found Grullon, 22, of Manchester guilty Oct. 28 of two counts of first-degree assault, one count of criminal threatening and one count of witness tampering after a three-day trial .

The teenaged victim suffered serious laceration to the back of the neck and two smaller wounds to his neck and back during the Aug. 18, 2012 attack.

The victim told police he went with Grullon in to the woods because Grullon was supposed to sell him a television. Once there, Grullon took a machete from under his jacket and threatened to kill the teen and his family.

The state asked for a 10-year minimum sentence; the defense asked for a 4-year minimum.

The court adopted the state’s recommendation, but suspended one year of the minimum provided the defendant not engage in any major disciplinary violations in prison.The judge ordered Grullon to serve 7-1/2 to 15 years on one first-degree assault conviction and a consecutive 1-1/2 to 7-1/2 years on the second. He also was sentenced to 3-1/2 to 7 years on the criminal threatening and witness tampering convictions suspended for 10 years of good behavior.

Grullon also pleaded guilty to an unrelated charge of illegal possession of Alprazolam and received a suspended sentence.